Classification of human breathing sounds by the common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The common vampire bat Desmodus rotundus is one of three bat species that feed exclusively on the blood of mammals often more than 1000 times its size. Vampire bats even feed on human blood. Moreover, they tend to feed on the same individual over consecutive nights.

Results

Using psychoacoustical methods, we show that vampire bats can recognize individual humans by their breathing sounds. Accompanying psychoacoustical experiments using the same stimuli and procedure but with human listeners show that even these trained and instructed listeners were unable to achieve the vampire bats' performance under the most difficult conditions, where the breathing sounds had been recorded under physical strain.

Conclusion

It is suggested that vampire bats can make use o

SUBMITTER: Groger U 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1513255 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature